Moths living at lower elevations and warmer environments develop richer colors, possibly because those with darker colors can retain more heat in cold regions, an Academic Sinica research team said yesterday.
The correlation between coloration and habitat elevations had been mostly a hypothesis, but the team used an artificial intelligence (AI) tool for image analysis to confirm the phenomenon with quantifiable and consistent data, Shipher Wu (吳士緯), a postdoctoral researcher at the Biodiversity Research Center, told a news conference in Taipei.
Taiwan has nearly 4,400 documented moth species — almost 10 times than the number of documented butterflies in the nation, but less than 10 researchers study moths in this nation, Wu said.
Photo: Chien Hui-ju, Taipei Times
Thanks to an AI-assisted deep learning model, the Academic Sinica team was able to efficiently analyze more than 20,000 images of nearly 2,000 moth species, and found that environmental temperature is a factor affecting species coloration, he said.
The images were gathered by 103 professional and amateur observers who contributed to certain online moth databases from 2011 to 2016, including Council of Agriculture’s Endemic Species Research Institute Deputy Director Lin Hsu-hong (林旭宏), Wu said.
Whether moths with richer colors possess more advantages to help them survive needs further investigation, he added.
The team detailed their findings in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications on Oct. 7, “Artificial intelligence reveals environmental constraints on color diversity in insects,” with Wu as the lead author.
The deep learning model was developed by a group led by Chen Sheng-wei (陳昇瑋), a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Information Science and director of the Taiwan AI Academy.
While he has seen AI widely applied in the medical and financial fields, this was the first time he used it, Chen said.
Unlike human eyes, which tend to simplify the traits of visual objects, deep learning can establish relations among a considerable number of images, he said.
Identifying species’ differences through human eyesight is subject to human bias and vision limitation, but AI technology can resolve these problems, said Shen Sheng-feng (沈聖峰), an associate research fellow at the center.
The team is working with Japanese researchers to gather more information of moths that live at higher latitudes, he said.
AI-assisted analysis is a new trend in biological studies, so Taiwan’s pool of information and technological talent gives the nation’s biologists an advantage, Shen said.
While some biologists might feel anxious about using AI in their research, they should consider it just another tool that can help them see better, he said.
Knowledge of biological traits could be used to design camouflage clothing and for other purposes as well, Shen added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and